International and national chronobiologists and sleep researchers advise unanimously to abolish DST

In August, the European Union voted to abolish the bi-annual change in clock time. `Whether the continent will be in constant ‘wintertime’ or ‘summertime’ remains to be decided and this imposes a lot of debate in the various countries of the European Union. Chrono@Work is actively involved in international and national discussion. International and Dutch scientists with an expertise in the regulation of sleep and wakefulness made a clear decision based on scientific arguments and wrote a statement to advise the different governments. The two Dutch sleep societies (NSWO and SVNL) sent their letter to the government on October 27th, the day prior to shifting back to Standard time (‘wintertime’). Whilst the abolition of the spring and autumn clock change will relief millions of people from a bi-annual burden, constant “daylight saving time” is not the sensible option for Europe, let alone for the Netherlands. In various public texts, letters and media (TV, social media, radio) the arguments were explained. In addition, a group of Dutch scientists, including Marijke Gordijn from Chrono@Work, was invited to explain their arguments in favor of constant Central European Time, our current time in winter, during an expert meeting with the Ministry of Internal Affairs. See a selection of the related items below if you are interested in the arguments, explained by several scientists (in Dutch) or watch the hilarious but true item of ‘Zondag met Lubach’ here.